Chapter 1

Introduction

The girl stands there, taking a deep breath, that tastes of the salt and heat she knows. The sea. There is an overruling smell of fish and seaweed...but she is long used to it. She was born with that smell filling her nostrils.

Today is her first reaping.

No, she can't shake off that thought. Even though there are no tesserae of her in that bowl, she knows it isn't impossible. She clenches her fists, and takes another deep breath that sends a nudge her way.
"Be quiet, Ren," a girl hisses.
Ren doesn't recognize her, but then again...she lives in her own world. People are sure to know her, though, with her father being one of the best fisherman. No one ever mentiones how he'd taken to drinking after his eldest son had been slaughtered in the bloodbath of the 67th Hunger Games. Now four years ago.
District 4's escort, a woman named Pallae Dewler, starts babbling animatedly, ignoring the tension in the breezy air. Even though it is considered an honor to participate in the Hunger Games in District 4, no one is quite willing to get slaughtered.
Finnick Odair, good old Mags and Annie Cresta, last year's victor, stand on the stage. The latter especially looks incredibly nervous, and her eyes are wild as her lips utter silent sentences that seem to come out in mere breaths.
Pallae Dewler walks towards the bowl, and the girl's eyes zoom in on it. Please don't let it be me...
She picks out a piece of paper that looks perfectly like all the others, and then smiles her terrible, awful, pearly white smile.
"Our girl tribute for the 71st Hunger Games is..."
Don't let it be me.
"Noelle Weedler!" she exclaims.
The crowd shifts, and she hears people murmer, but all she can think of is the relief that floods through her body.
Not her. Nor her elder sister. Another year of safety.
A girl stumbles to the stage, seemingly thirteen years old, looking proud and frightened at the same time. Her dark blue eyes flit over the screen that projects her, and for one split moment, Ren can't help wondering whether she can see the own dread in her eyes.
"Our boy tribute for the 71st Hunger Games is..."
Ren thinks of her friend, Mano. She shudders at the thought that her only confident could be the unfortunate boy who would be slaughtered. Just as she glances around frantically, the suspense is ended, and a name is called.
"Kegan Rafter!"
Unlike the family of the girl, his relations cry out, though no older brother steps forward to volunteer. She sees why as he steps forward. Tall, brooding, muscular. At least sixteen.
Ren wouldn't be suprised if this proved the be the third victor of District 4 in a decade.
Mags is heard prattling something on stage, while Finnick Odair congratulates the two tributes coolly, and Annie Cresta just stares into the distance, her eyes telling tales of terror.
Ren just wants to go home, to her family, to the safe, small house she calls home, where bread and fishsoup will be waiting. She gazes around, and meets Mano's gaze. He gives her a nod, his sea-green eyes solemn. The color eyes that most people in District 4 share, including Ren, though hers are a tinge darker.
Many children are allowed to go home that day, relieved, laughing with their families. And though Ren knows better, she too, refuses to let her thoughts stray and think about the lifes of the tributes and their families, changed for forever.

Because she knows how it feels. And in the world she lives in, it can happen again.